Royals lose to Stevenage in friendly encounter

Reading were on the end of a 2-0 defeat to Stevenage at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, having named a strong starting XI.

The Reading line-up was a very strong one, with three of the four defensive backline being in the Championship winning side last season. There was also a place for the returning Danny Guthrie, as well as Russian international Pavel Pogrebnyak. The visitors Stevenage also named a very strong line-up, having not played at the weekend.

It was a rather uneventful first half, with Noel Hunt forcing a save from the opposition keeper in the opening exchanges. The away side did take the lead in this encounter just before the half time mark though, as an effort was unluckily deflected into Stuart Taylor`s goal. Into the second half, Stevenage scored a second to seal the game.

Both Danny Guthrie and Pavel Pogrebnyak were brought off with injury worries in the second period, so are unlikely to play a major part in this weekend`s game with Southampton. This pretty much implies that McDermott is going to keep the same XI for the game against Southampton, with Chris Gunter still struggling with an injury problem.